JP7565693B2 - COMMUNICATION CONTROL DEVICE, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, COMMUNICATION CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a communication control device, a communication device, a communication system, a wireless base station, a communication control method, and a program.

In recent years, technology has been known for a communication system that prioritizes communication with a terminal device that is playing content (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Technology has also been known for a communication system that determines the communication bandwidth for communication related to an application running on a terminal device depending on the type of application (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Technology has also been known in which a repeater connecting different networks relays communication based on the priority requested by the terminal device (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

JP 2017-120997 A JP 2017-98962 A JP 2011-142385 A

In recent years, research has been conducted into automatically controlling vehicles. To automatically control a vehicle, it is necessary to transmit and receive large volumes of information related to vehicle control on a priority basis or with improved reliability through high-speed, low-latency communication. However, with conventional technology, it has been difficult to transmit information related to the vehicle on a priority basis while ensuring reliability.

The aspects of the present invention have been made in consideration of these circumstances, and one of the objectives is to provide a communication control device, a communication device, a communication system, a wireless base station, a communication control method, and a program that can communicate vehicle-related information on a priority basis while ensuring reliability.

A communication control device, a communication device, a communication system, a wireless base station, a communication control method, and a program according to the present invention employ the following configuration.
(1) A communication control device of one embodiment of the present invention includes an acquisition unit that acquires vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more on-board devices mounted on the vehicle, the vehicle information being to be transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle; a determination unit that determines a communication priority of the vehicle information based on at least the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit; a start control unit that causes the communication unit to transmit information indicating the communication priority determined by the determination unit to a wireless base station that is accessed for communication with the external device; and a priority communication control unit that causes the communication unit to communicate the vehicle information with the wireless base station based on the communication priority received from the wireless base station.

(2) A communication device according to another aspect of the present invention is a communication device including the communication control device according to the first aspect and the communication unit, and the communication unit communicates with the wireless base station regarding the vehicle information based on the communication priority received from the wireless base station.

In the aspect (3), in the communication device according to the aspect (2), the determination unit determines the communication priority based on status information that is the running state of the vehicle.

In the aspect (4), in the communication device according to the aspect (2) or (3) above, the determination unit determines the communication band for communicating with the wireless base station as the communication priority of the vehicle information.

In the aspect (5), in the communication device according to the aspect (3) or (4) above, the wireless base station assigns a communication band for communicating with the communication unit as the communication priority, and the communication unit communicates with the external device regarding the vehicle information through the communication band assigned by the wireless base station.

In the aspect (6), in the communication device according to any one of the aspects (3) to (5) above, the communication priority is a priority of the Quality of Service (QoS) for the channel of wireless communication relayed by the wireless base station.

(7) A communication system according to another aspect of the present invention includes a communication device according to any one of the second to sixth aspects and the wireless base station.

(8) Another aspect of the wireless base station of the present invention includes a communication control unit that causes communication between the vehicle and the external device based on a communication priority determined based on vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more on-board devices mounted on the vehicle, information indicating the communication priority of communication related to the vehicle information between the vehicle and the external device, information including the vehicle information, and information indicating the communication quality of wireless communication.

In the aspect (9), the wireless base station according to the aspect (8) above further includes a communication unit that receives from the vehicle information indicating the communication priority determined in the vehicle according to the type of the vehicle information, and transmits a response to the received communication priority to the vehicle, and the communication unit further determines a communication priority based on the information indicating the communication priority and the information indicating the communication quality, transmits the determined communication priority to the vehicle as the response, and receives the vehicle information from the vehicle based on the determined communication priority for communication between the vehicle and the external device.

In the aspect (10), in the wireless base station according to the aspect (8) or (9) above, the vehicle information is information indicating the detection result of a detection unit that is mounted on the vehicle and detects the state of the vehicle.

(11) In another aspect of the communication control method of the present invention, a computer having a communication unit acquires vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more on-board devices mounted on the vehicle and transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle, determines a communication priority for each piece of vehicle information based on the acquired vehicle information, transmits information indicating the determined communication priority to a wireless base station accessed for communication with the external device, and communicates the vehicle information with the wireless base station according to the communication priority received from the wireless base station.

(12) Another aspect of the program of the present invention causes a computer having a communication unit to acquire vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more on-board devices mounted on the vehicle and transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle, determine a communication priority for each piece of vehicle information based on the acquired vehicle information, cause the communication unit to transmit information indicating the determined communication priority to a wireless base station accessed for communication with the external device, and cause the communication unit to communicate the vehicle information with the wireless base station based on the communication priority received from the wireless base station.

According to aspects (1) to (10), vehicle-related information can be communicated with priority while ensuring reliability.

According to the aspect (3), communication can be prioritized according to the vehicle's situation.

According to aspect (5), vehicle-related information can be communicated over a bandwidth with guaranteed bandwidth.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication system including a vehicle equipped with a communication device according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a wireless base station 10 according to an embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of reference information 52. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of route information 54. 1 is a configuration diagram of a vehicle M including a communication device 100 according to an embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of correspondence information 262. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a process executed by the communication system 1 in the embodiment. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of reference information 52a used when a first determination unit 32 determines a communication band. FIG.

The following describes embodiments of the communication control device, communication device, communication system, wireless base station, communication control method, and program of the present invention with reference to the drawings. In the following, a communication system including a vehicle equipped with a communication device is described. The vehicle is, for example, a two-wheeled, three-wheeled, or four-wheeled vehicle, and its driving source is an internal combustion engine such as a diesel engine or a gasoline engine, an electric motor, or a combination of these. The electric motor operates using power generated by a generator connected to the internal combustion engine, or discharged power from a secondary battery or a fuel cell.

<Embodiment>
1 is a diagram showing an example of a communication system including a vehicle equipped with a communication device according to an embodiment. The communication system 1 includes, for example, one or more wireless base stations 10 and a communication device 100 mounted on a vehicle M. Hereinafter, a case will be described in which the communication system 1 includes four base stations, wireless base stations 10-1 to 10-4. The numbers following the hyphen at the end of the reference symbol are identifiers for distinguishing the wireless base station 10 and the configuration related to the wireless base station 10. When there is no need to distinguish which wireless base station 10 it is or which configuration related to the wireless base station 10 it is, the numbers following the hyphen at the end of the reference symbol are omitted.

The wireless base station 10 communicates with vehicles M and other communication terminal devices present within a predetermined communication range A via wireless communication. The predetermined communication range A is set, for example, by a communication standard, and is a range of several hundred meters to several kilometers from the wireless base station 10. The communication network provided by the wireless base station 10 within the communication range A is, for example, a cellular network. The cellular network is, for example, a third generation mobile communication network (3G), a fourth generation mobile communication network (hereinafter, 4G, Long term evolution: LTE (registered trademark)), or a fifth generation mobile communication network (hereinafter, 5G). Hereinafter, it is assumed that the communication networks provided by the wireless base station 10 within the communication range A are two types of mobile communication networks, 4G and 5G.

The wireless base station 10 may be connected to multiple access points via wired connections, and the communication ranges (not shown) realized by each access point may be integrated to realize the communication range A.

In addition, each wireless base station 10 is connected to a network (hereinafter, referred to as the core network cNW) via a wired connection so that they can communicate with each other. The core network cNW includes, for example, the Internet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a public line, a provider device, a dedicated line, etc.

The communication device 100 determines a communication priority for communication related to vehicle information with the external device TA to be communicated with, and requests the wireless base station 10 to communicate with the external device TA according to the determined communication priority. When the communication with the external device TA according to the communication priority requested by the wireless base station 10 is accepted, the communication device 100 performs communication related to vehicle information with the external device TA according to the communication priority. For example, the external device TA is an application server that acquires vehicle information from the communication device 100 and transmits the information to the vehicle M. Specifically, the external device TA is a device that constitutes a driving assistance system that receives vehicle information from one or more vehicles M, generates information related to driving assistance for the vehicle M, and transmits it to the vehicle M. The external device TA is connected to the core network cNW by a wired connection. The external device TA is also provided outside the vehicle M.

The vehicle information is, for example, the detection results of various vehicle sensors mounted on the vehicle M, image data generated by a camera mounted on the vehicle M capturing an image of the environment surrounding the vehicle M, content information played on a content playback device mounted on the vehicle M, information on the status of the occupants of the vehicle M (particularly biometric information), etc. Note that these vehicle information items are merely examples and are not limited to these. The various vehicle sensors are examples of a "detection unit that detects the status of the vehicle."

Next, we will specifically explain the configuration of the wireless base station 10 and the configuration of the vehicle M equipped with the communication device 100.

[Radio base station]
2 is a configuration diagram of a radio base station 10 according to an embodiment. The radio base station 10 is a radio communication base station provided by a telecommunications carrier such as eNodeB or gNodeB. The radio base station 10 includes, for example, a first communication unit 20, a communication quality measurement unit 30, a first determination unit 32, a first communication control unit 34, and a storage unit 50. Note that the configuration is not limited to one in which the radio base station 10 includes all of these functional units, and some or all of these functional units (except the first communication unit 20) may be included in a device (not shown) that manages the radio base station 10.

The first determination unit 32 and the first communication control unit 34 are realized, for example, by a hardware processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) executing a program (software). In addition, some or all of these components may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as an LSI (Large Scale Integration), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware. The program may be stored in the storage unit 50 in advance, or may be stored in a removable storage medium such as a DVD or CD-ROM, and installed in the storage unit 50 by inserting the storage medium into a drive device.

The storage unit 50 is realized, for example, by a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), a read only memory (ROM), or a random access memory (RAM). The storage unit 50 stores, for example, reference information 52, route information 54, a program that is read and executed by the processor, and various other information.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the reference information 52. The reference information 52 is information used when the first determination unit 32 determines the communication priority of the transmission data. The reference information 52 is, for example, information in which identification information capable of identifying a source device that has transmitted the transmission data, information indicating the type of the source device, information indicating the type of transmission data transmitted by the source device, and information indicating the communication priority of the transmission data are associated with each other. The identification information capable of identifying the source device is, for example, identification information recorded on a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card used when using wireless communication provided by the wireless base station 10. The reference information 52 is, for example, predetermined by the operator that provides the communication system 1.

In FIG. 3, the type of source device is, for example, vehicle M, an in-vehicle device or communication device 100 mounted on vehicle M, a smartphone, a game device, etc. When the source device is vehicle M, an in-vehicle device or communication device 100 mounted on vehicle M, the transmission data transmitted by the source device is, for example, vehicle information. When the source device is a smartphone, the transmission data transmitted by the source device is, for example, call information indicating the voice of a call or content information played on a smartphone. When the source device is a game device, the transmission data transmitted by the source device is, for example, game information such as various data used in a game.

In FIG. 3, each piece of transmission data is associated with a communication priority. The communication priority is, for example, a communication priority used in the QoS (Quality of Service) related to a wireless communication channel, and is realized by CoS (Class of Service) represented by 3 bits of data in a VLAN (Virtual LAN) tag of a MAC (Media Access Control) frame, ISL type CoS represented in 8 stages using the lower 3 bits of information in the "user definition" field in an ISL (Inter-Switch Link) header, ToS represented in 8 stages using 3 bits of information (IP Precedence) in the "ToS (Type of Service)" field in an IP (Internet Protocol) header, or DSCP (DiffServ Code Point) represented in 64 stages using 6 bits of information when the "ToS" field in the IP header is redefined as a "DS (DiffServ)" field.

In the following explanation, the communication priority is represented by a value from "1" to "9." The higher the communication priority value, the higher the priority of the communication compared to other communications. For example, vehicle information used to control vehicle M is associated with a higher communication priority (in this case, "8") than other vehicle information, vehicle information that is not used to control vehicle M but is not content information is associated with a communication priority (in this case, "6") that is lower than vehicle information used to control vehicle M but higher than content information, and content information among the vehicle information is associated with a communication priority that is lower than other vehicle information (in this case, "3").

Furthermore, a communication priority of "8" is associated with call information, a communication priority of "4" is associated with content information played on the smartphone, and a communication priority of "2" is associated with game information. Note that these communication priorities are merely examples and are not limiting.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the route information 54. The route information 54 is information used when the first decision unit 32 decides which of the mobile communication networks provided by the wireless base station 10 in its communication range A should be used to communicate the transmission data when the wireless base station 10 is able to select communication via multiple mobile communication networks. The route information 54 is, for example, information in which information indicating the mobile communication network provided by the wireless base station 10 and information indicating communication priority are associated with each other.

Based on the route information 54 shown in FIG. 4, the wireless base station 10 performs communication related to transmission data associated with communication priorities "1" to "4" in the 4G mobile communication network. In addition, the wireless base station 10 performs communication related to transmission data associated with communication priorities "1" to "2" in the narrow bandwidth communication band of the 4G mobile communication network, and performs communication related to transmission data associated with communication priorities "3" to "4" in the wide bandwidth communication band. The wireless base station 10 performs communication related to transmission data associated with communication priorities "5" to "8" in the 5G mobile communication network. In addition, the wireless base station 10 performs communication related to transmission data associated with communication priorities "5" to "6" in the wide bandwidth communication band of the 5G mobile communication network, and performs communication related to transmission data associated with communication priorities "7" to "8" in the narrow bandwidth communication band.

Note that, in the route information 54 of FIG. 4, a case has been described in which the communication priority assigned to each mobile communication network is uniquely determined, but this is not limited to the case. The communication priority assigned to each mobile communication network may have a range determined by, for example, a threshold value. Furthermore, the route information 54 may be different information for each wireless base station 10.

Returning to FIG. 2, the first communication unit 20 performs wireless communication with vehicles M and communication terminal devices present within the communication range A via the antenna ANT of the wireless base station 10 based on the control of the first communication control unit 34.

The communication quality measurement unit 30 acquires the communication quality of each mobile communication network provided by the wireless base station 10 in the communication range A. The communication quality includes, for example, information about communication latency. Latency is one of the indicators in data communication. Latency includes, for example, the delay time of communication. In addition, the communication quality may be throughput, communication speed, traffic volume, bandwidth utilization rate, number of error packets, number of lost packets, etc.

The first decision unit 32 decides the communication priority to be assigned to the transmission data based on the transmission data sent by the source device, the reference information 52, and information indicating the communication quality of each mobile communication network measured by the communication quality measurement unit 30. Then, based on the decided communication priority and the route information 54, the first decision unit 32 decides which mobile communication network, 4G or 5G, the communication related to the transmission data should be performed over.

Here, the communication device 100 described later may request the wireless base station 10 to communicate with the external device TA for transmission data at a communication priority different from the communication priority predetermined in the reference information 52. The different communication priority is, for example, a communication priority higher than the communication priority related to the transmission data predetermined in the reference information 52. The first decision unit 32 decides, based on information indicating the communication quality of each mobile communication network measured by the communication quality measurement unit 30, to communicate the transmission data at the communication priority requested by the communication device 100 if it does not affect other communications, and decides to communicate the transmission data at the communication priority according to the request of the second communication unit 110 if it affects other communications, and decides to communicate the transmission data at the communication priority predetermined in the reference information 52 if it affects other communications.

Not affecting other communications includes, for example, when the communication device 100 and the external device TA communicate with each other regarding the transmission data, the latency, throughput, traffic volume, bandwidth usage rate, number of error packets, number of lost packets, etc. are below a predetermined threshold, and the communication speed, etc. are above a predetermined threshold. Affecting other communications includes, for example, when the communication device 100 and the external device TA communicate with each other regarding the transmission data, the latency, traffic volume, number of error packets, bandwidth usage rate, etc. are greater than a predetermined threshold, and the communication speed, etc. are less than a predetermined threshold.

Note that a predetermined threshold is set for each of the latency, throughput, communication speed, traffic volume, bandwidth utilization rate, number of error packets, number of lost packets, etc., and the first decision unit 32 may compare the measurement results of the communication quality measurement unit 30 with each of the predetermined thresholds to determine whether or not other communications are affected. In this case, when the first decision unit 32 determines that any one of the latency, throughput, communication speed, traffic volume, bandwidth utilization rate, number of error packets, and number of lost packets among the measurement results of the communication quality measurement unit 30 affects other communications, it may decide to communicate the transmission data according to the communication priority predetermined in the reference information 52, and when it determines that a predetermined number or more of these measurement results affect other communications, it may decide to communicate the transmission data according to the communication priority predetermined in the reference information 52.

In addition, when the first decision unit 32 determines that a predetermined combination (e.g., throughput and number of error packets, etc.) of the latency, throughput, communication speed, traffic volume, bandwidth utilization rate, number of error packets, and number of lost packets, which are the measurement results of the communication quality measurement unit 30, will affect other communications, the first decision unit 32 may decide to communicate the transmission data according to the communication priority predetermined in the reference information 52.

The first communication control unit 34 causes the first communication unit 20 to perform communication related to the transmission data transmitted by the source device through communication using a mobile communication network based on the decision of the first decision unit 32 out of 4G or 5G mobile communication networks. Specifically, the first communication control unit 34 performs priority control of QoS based on the communication priority based on the decision of the first decision unit 32 through communication using a mobile communication network based on the decision of the first decision unit 32, and transmits to the source device information including the decision result indicating that the source device and the target device are to communicate. Then, based on the communication priority that the source device assigned to the transmission data in response to the response from the wireless base station 10, the first communication control unit 34 causes the first communication unit 20 to perform communication related to the transmission data using an absolute priority method in which transmission data with a high communication priority is given absolute priority over transmission data with a low communication priority, a weighted round robin method in which transmission data is transmitted according to the ratio of the number of transmission data sets or the maximum number of transmission data sets set for each communication priority, a delay guaranteed round robin method in which transmission data is transmitted according to the maximum transmission delay time set for each communication priority, shaving based on each communication priority, or the like.

The first communication control unit 34 instructs the communication between the communication device 100 of the vehicle M and the wireless base station 10 in the communication between the vehicle M and the external device TA to be performed according to the communication priority determined by the first decision unit 32. For example, in the case shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle M (communication device 100) is present within the communication range A-1 of the wireless base station 10-1, and the external device TA is connected to the core network cNW to which the wireless base station 10-1 is preferentially connected. Therefore, the first communication control unit 34 of the wireless base station 10-1 requests the wireless base station 10-1 to perform communication related to the transmission data according to the communication priority determined by the first decision unit 32, and the wireless base station 10-1 determines whether or not to transmit the transmission data according to the requested communication priority.

The first communication control unit 34 may request communication related to the transmission data according to the communication priority determined by the first determination unit 32 in at least a portion of the communication path from the vehicle M to the external device TA. For example, the first communication control unit 34 of the wireless base station 10-1 may request a relay device that relays communication in the core network cNW to perform communication related to the transmission data according to the communication priority determined by the first determination unit 32. In this case, the relay device determines whether or not to communicate in the core network cNW with the external device TA or the wireless base station 10 that is the relay destination according to the communication priority requested by the first communication control unit 34.

[In-vehicle device]
Next, a vehicle M including the communication device 100 will be described. Fig. 5 is a configuration diagram of the vehicle M including the communication device 100 of the embodiment. In the example of Fig. 5, the description will be centered on the components of the vehicle M used mainly in the process executed in the communication system 1 of the embodiment. The vehicle M includes, for example, the communication device 100, an in-vehicle device 200, and a storage unit 260.

The in-vehicle device 200 includes, for example, a vehicle sensor 210, a drive control device 220, a driving control device 230, and a navigation device 240. The vehicle sensor 210, the drive control device 220, the driving control device 230, and the navigation device 240 are examples of "in-vehicle equipment."

The vehicle sensors 210 include, for example, an accelerator opening sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, a brake depression sensor, and the like. The accelerator opening sensor is attached to an accelerator pedal (an example of an operator) that receives an acceleration command from the driver of the vehicle M, detects the amount of operation of the accelerator pedal, and outputs the accelerator opening to the drive control device 220. The vehicle speed sensor, for example, includes wheel speed sensors attached to each wheel and a speed calculator, and combines the wheel speeds detected by the wheel speed sensors to derive the speed (vehicle speed) of the vehicle M and outputs the derived vehicle speed to the drive control device 220. The brake depression sensor is attached to a brake pedal (an example of an operator) that receives a deceleration or stop command from the driver, detects the amount of operation of the brake pedal, and outputs the brake depression to the drive control device 220.

The vehicle sensor 210 also includes a vehicle speed sensor that detects the speed of the vehicle M, an acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration, a yaw rate sensor that detects the angular velocity around the vertical axis, and a direction sensor that detects the direction of the vehicle M.

The vehicle sensor 210 may also include, for example, a camera, a radar device, a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), an object recognition device, etc. These are components for detecting information about the surroundings of the vehicle M. The camera is, for example, a digital camera that uses a solid-state imaging element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). The camera may be a stereo camera. The camera is attached to any location of the vehicle M. When capturing an image of the front, the camera is attached to the top of the front windshield, the back of the rearview mirror, etc. The camera, for example, periodically and repeatedly captures images of the surroundings of the vehicle M.

The radar device emits radio waves such as millimeter waves around the vehicle M and detects radio waves reflected by surrounding objects (reflected waves) to detect at least the position (distance and direction) of the objects. The radar device is attached to any location on the vehicle M. The radar device may detect the position and speed of objects by, for example, the FM-CW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) method.

The LIDAR irradiates light (or electromagnetic waves with wavelengths close to that of light) around the vehicle M and measures the scattered light. The LIDAR detects the distance to the target based on the time between light emission and reception. The irradiated light is, for example, pulsed laser light. The LIDAR can be attached to any location on the vehicle M.

The object recognition device performs sensor fusion processing on the detection results from some or all of the above-mentioned cameras, radar devices, and LIDAR to recognize the position, type, speed, etc. of objects around the vehicle M. The object recognition device outputs the recognition results to the driving control device 230. The object recognition device may also output the detection results from the cameras, radar devices, and LIDAR directly to the driving control device 230. In this case, the object recognition device may be omitted from the vehicle M.

The drive control device 220 is a device for applying a driving force or the like to the vehicle M to drive the vehicle M. The drive control device 220 includes, for example, a driving force output device that outputs a driving force (torque) for driving the vehicle M to the drive wheels, a brake device that outputs a brake torque to each wheel according to a predetermined braking operation, and a steering device that changes the direction of the steered wheels.

The driving force output device includes, for example, a combination of an internal combustion engine, an electric motor, and a transmission, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that controls these. The above configuration is controlled according to information input from the driving control device 230 or information input from the driving operator (steering wheel, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, etc.). The brake device includes, for example, a brake caliper, a cylinder that transmits hydraulic pressure to the brake caliper, an electric motor that generates hydraulic pressure in the cylinder, and a brake ECU. The brake ECU controls the electric motor according to information input from the driving control device 230 or information input from the driving operator, so that a brake torque corresponding to the braking operation is output to each wheel. The brake device may include a mechanism that transmits hydraulic pressure generated by the operation of the brake pedal included in the driving operator to the cylinder via a master cylinder as a backup. Note that the brake device is not limited to the configuration described above, and may be an electronically controlled hydraulic brake device that controls an actuator according to information input from the driving control device 230 to transmit the hydraulic pressure of the master cylinder to the cylinder.

The steering device includes, for example, a steering ECU and an electric motor. The electric motor changes the direction of the steered wheels by, for example, applying a force to a rack and pinion mechanism. The steering ECU drives the electric motor according to information input from the driving control device 230 or information input from a driving operator, to change the direction of the steered wheels.

The driving control device 230 performs, for example, automatic driving (autonomous driving) control and driving assistance control of the vehicle M. Automatic driving control is, for example, controlling one or both of the steering and speed of the vehicle M without relying on the driving operation by the occupant of the vehicle M. Driving assistance control is, for example, driving control that supports the driving operation of the occupant, such as ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control System), LKAS (Lane Keeping Assistance System), and CMBS (Collision Mitigation Brake System). For example, the driving control device 230 generates driving control content corresponding to the surrounding situation of the vehicle M detected by the vehicle sensor 210, the behavior of the vehicle M, and control instructions from the occupant, and outputs the generated driving control content to the drive control device 220 to drive each device. Here, the driving control device 230 may execute automatic driving control, driving assistance control, etc. based on a command from the external device TA, or may execute automatic driving control, driving assistance control, etc. by referring to information acquired from the external device TA.

The navigation device 240 includes, for example, a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver, a navigation HMI (Human Machine Interface), and a route determination unit. The navigation device 240 stores map information in a storage device such as a HDD or flash memory. The GNSS receiver identifies the position of the vehicle M based on signals received from GNSS satellites. The position of the vehicle M may be identified or supplemented by an INS (Inertial Navigation System) that uses the output of a vehicle sensor 210 mounted on the vehicle M. Here, the navigation device 240 may be executed based on a command from an external device TA, or may be executed by referring to information acquired from the external device TA.

The navigation HMI includes a display, a speaker, a touch panel, keys, etc. The navigation HMI allows the occupant to set a destination, etc., using images, sounds, etc., and guides the occupant along a driving route to the destination. The route determination unit, for example, determines a route (hereinafter, a route on a map) from the position of the vehicle M specified by the GNSS receiver (or any input position) to the destination input by the occupant using the navigation HMI by referring to map information. The map information is, for example, information in which a road shape is expressed by links indicating roads and nodes connected by the links. The map information may include road curvature and POI (Point Of Interest) information, etc. The map information may also include, for example, information on the center of a lane, information on the boundaries of a lane, information on the type of a lane, etc. The map information may also include road information, traffic regulation information, address information (address and postal code), facility information, telephone number information, etc. The map information may be updated at any time by the communication device 100 communicating with other devices. The navigation device 240 provides route guidance, etc., based on the route on the map by displaying a map image on the display unit and outputting audio from a speaker (not shown).

In addition to the above-mentioned devices, the in-vehicle device 200 may include at least one of an audio device, a battery management device, a keyless entry system, a suspension system, an airbag device, a door lock device, a door opening/closing device, a window opening/closing device, a seat position control device, a rearview mirror angle position control device, a vehicle interior/exterior lighting control device, a wiper or defogger control device, a turn signal light control device, and an air conditioning device. Here, the in-vehicle device 200 may execute based on a command from the external device TA, or may execute each function by referring to information acquired from the external device TA. For example, the audio device may request music or broadcast information from the external device TA, and may acquire and output content information such as the music or broadcast information from the external device TA. In this case, it is preferable that the driving control device 230 sets a communication priority that is relatively low compared to the communication priority when transmitting and receiving with other external devices TA.

The communication device 100 includes, for example, a second communication unit 110, an acquisition unit 120, a second determination unit 130, and a second communication control unit 140. Each component of the communication device 100 is realized, for example, by a hardware processor such as a CPU executing a program (software). In addition, some or all of these components may be realized by hardware (including a circuit unit) such as an LSI, ASIC, FPGA, or GPU, or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware. The program may be stored in the storage unit 260 in advance, or may be stored in a removable storage medium such as a DVD or CD-ROM, and may be installed in the storage unit 260 by inserting the storage medium into a drive device. Some or all of the components of the communication device 100 are an example of a TCU (Telematics Control Unit).

The communication device 100 may include some of the functional units described above. For example, the second communication unit 110 may be included in a terminal device with a communication function, such as a smartphone, that is external to the communication device 100. In this case, the second communication control unit 140 controls the operation of the second communication unit 110 included in the communication terminal.

The storage unit 260 is realized, for example, by a HDD, a flash memory, an EEPROM, a ROM, or a RAM. The storage unit 260 stores, for example, correspondence information 262, a program that is read and executed by the processor, and various other information.

6 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the correspondence information 262. The correspondence information 262 is, for example, information in which communication priority and the type of vehicle information are associated with each other. As described above, the business providing the communication system 1 determines, by the reference information 52, whether to give each transmission data a high communication priority and transmit/receive the data with priority, or to give a low communication priority and not transmit/receive the data with priority. On the other hand, the correspondence information 262 is determined by a sales business of the vehicle M, a business providing a service related to the control of the vehicle M (for example, control related to automatic driving or driving assistance), etc. The correspondence information 262 is information used when requesting communication with a communication priority higher than the communication priority determined in the reference information 52 depending on the status of the mobile communication network (for example, communication quality), even if the communication priority of the transmission data is basically determined by the reference information 52. In other words, between the communication priority determined in the correspondence information 262 and the communication priority determined in the reference information 52, the former communication priority is used with priority.

6, the vehicle information used to control vehicle M, such as information indicating the detection results of vehicle sensors and image data generated by a camera mounted on vehicle M capturing an image of the environment surrounding vehicle M, is assigned a communication priority of "8" similar to the communication priority indicated in reference information 52. On the other hand, in the correspondence information 262 of FIG. 6, the vehicle information not used to control vehicle M, such as vehicle position information indicating the position of vehicle M, is assigned a communication priority of "8" which is higher than the communication priority indicated in reference information 52.

Note that the information (in this case, information not used to control vehicle M) to which a higher communication priority is assigned compared to the communication priority indicated in reference information 52 is merely an example and is not limited to this. For example, in correspondence information 262, the communication priority assigned to content information played in vehicle M, information used for automatic driving control, information necessary for safe driving of vehicle M even if not used for automatic driving control, information requiring quick response, etc. may be higher than the communication priority indicated in reference information 52.

The second communication unit 110 communicates with the wireless base station 10 and other vehicles present in the vicinity of the vehicle M, for example, using a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, Bluetooth (registered trademark), DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication), or the like, based on the control of the second communication control unit 140. The cellular network is a mobile communication network such as 3G, 4G, or 5G provided by the wireless base station 10 in the communication range A described above. The Wi-Fi network is, for example, a radio communication network that allows each individual or each company to freely use their own network. The communication standard in the communication method compliant with Wi-Fi has a very narrow radio wave reach, and is limited to use within about 10 to 100 m from the position of the Wi-Fi antenna. In addition, in the Wi-Fi network, communication is performed in a predetermined frequency band (for example, the 5 GHz band or the 2.4 GHz band).

The acquisition unit 120 acquires, for example, information obtained from each on-board device of the on-board device 200 as vehicle information. The vehicle information includes, for example, information detected by the vehicle sensor 210, control data from the drive control device 220, control data from the driving control device 230, navigation information from the navigation device 240 (for example, destination information and route guidance information to the destination), etc.

The second determination unit 130 determines the communication priority of the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit 120 for each piece of vehicle information based on the correspondence information 262.

The second communication control unit 140 causes the second communication unit 110 to transmit transmission data including information indicating the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 and the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit 120 to the wireless base station 10. In the following description, the second communication control unit 140 controlling the second communication unit 110 to transmit the transmission data to the destination is also referred to as "the second communication control unit 140 transmits."

In general, the amount of data that can be transmitted at one time in a network (transmission unit) is determined in advance, and the second communication control unit 140 divides the vehicle information into the amount of data that can be transmitted at one time and transmits it to the radio base station 10. In this case, before starting to transmit the divided transmission data, the second communication control unit 140 first transmits information indicating the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 to the radio base station 10 by bearer communication. As a result, the second communication control unit 140 requests the radio base station 10 to communicate according to the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130.

The wireless base station 10 (first communication control unit 34) determines the communication priority of the transmission data based on the transmission data transmitted by the second communication control unit 140, and transmits information including the determination result to the communication device 100 by bearer communication as a response to the request. The second communication control unit 140 subsequently transmits the divided transmission data to the external device TA in sequence by communication based on the communication priority determined by the wireless base station 10. Note that in the bearer communication, in addition to the information indicating the communication priority, information indicating payload information and information related to information indicating the acquisition of a communication path may be transmitted and received.

In the process of "including information indicating the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 in the first transmission data to be transmitted to the wireless base station 10", the second communication control unit 140 is an example of a "start control unit", and in the process of "sequently transmitting the divided transmission data to the external device TA in sequence through communication based on the communication priority determined by the wireless base station 10", the second communication control unit 140 is an example of a "priority communication control unit".

[Processing sequence]
7 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a process executed by the communication system 1 in the embodiment. First, the acquisition unit 120 of the communication device 100 acquires vehicle information from the in-vehicle device 200 (step S100). The second determination unit 130 determines the communication priority of the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit 120 based on the correspondence information 262 (step S102). The second communication control unit 140 divides the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit 120 into a data amount that can be transmitted at one time, and transmits information indicating the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 to the radio base station 10 by bearer communication in the divided transmission data to be transmitted first (step S104).

The first decision unit 32 of the wireless base station 10 decides the communication priority to be assigned to the transmission data based on the transmission data transmitted by the communication device 100 via the first communication unit 20, the reference information 52, and the information indicating the communication quality of each mobile communication network measured by the communication quality measurement unit 30 (step S106). For example, based on the information indicating the communication quality of each mobile communication network measured by the communication quality measurement unit 30, when the transmission data is communicated based on the communication priority requested by the communication device 100, if other communications are not affected, the first decision unit 32 decides to communicate the transmission data based on the communication priority requested by the communication device 100, and if other communications are affected, to communicate the transmission data based on the communication priority predetermined in the reference information 52.

Based on the determination result of the first determination unit 32, the first communication control unit 34 transmits (notifies) to the communication device 100 information indicating whether communication is possible according to the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 (step S110). For example, when the determination result of the first determination unit 32 indicates that communication is possible according to the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130, the first communication control unit 34 transmits to the communication device 100 information indicating that communication will be performed according to the communication priority. Also, when the determination result of the first determination unit 32 indicates that communication is not possible according to the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130, the first communication control unit 34 transmits to the communication device 100 information indicating that communication will be performed according to the communication priority determined by the first determination unit 32. The second communication control unit 140 subsequently transmits the divided transmission data to the external device TA in order by communication based on the communication priority determined by the wireless base station 10 (step S112).

[About bandwidth control]
In the above description, the first determination unit 32 determines the communication priority used for the QoS priority control, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the first determination unit 32 may determine a bandwidth related to the QoS bandwidth control instead of (or in addition to) the process of determining the communication priority used for the QoS priority control.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of reference information 52a used when first determination unit 32 determines the communication band. Reference information 52a is information in which, for example, identification information capable of identifying a source device from which data is sent, information indicating the type of source device, information indicating the type of transmission data sent by the source device, a mobile communication network used to communicate the transmission data, and information indicating the communication band of the mobile communication network are associated with each other.

The first determination unit 32 determines the mobile communication network to be used for communicating the transmission data and the communication band in the mobile communication network based on the transmission data transmitted by the transmitting device, the reference information 52a, and information indicating the communication quality of each mobile communication network measured by the communication quality measurement unit 30. In the reference information 52a in FIG. 8, for example, the vehicle information used for controlling the vehicle M is associated with a high-speed and high-capacity communication band compared to other vehicle information, the vehicle information that is not used for controlling the vehicle M but is not content information is associated with a low-capacity communication band compared to the vehicle information used for controlling the vehicle M, and the content information of the vehicle information is associated with a low-speed and low-capacity communication band compared to other vehicle information.

The reference information 52a may include information indicating a communication band without bandwidth guarantee or without bandwidth restrictions instead of (or in addition to) information indicating a communication band with a narrow bandwidth, and may include information indicating a communication band with bandwidth guarantee or with bandwidth restrictions instead of (or in addition to) information indicating a communication band with a wide bandwidth. Furthermore, when the first determination unit 32 determines the communication band and the mobile communication network to be used for communication based on the reference information 52, the route information 54 may not be stored in the storage unit 50.

The second determination unit 130 may also determine the bandwidth related to QoS bandwidth control, for example, instead of (or in addition to) the process of determining the communication priority used for QoS priority control. In this case, the correspondence information 262 includes information indicating the mobile communication network used for communication of the transmission data and the communication bandwidth of the mobile communication network instead of (or in addition to) the communication priority. The process of determining the communication bandwidth of the mobile communication network by the second determination unit 130 based on this correspondence information 262 is similar to the process described above, and therefore will not be described.

[Determination of communication priority based on driving information of vehicle M]
In the above description, the second determination unit 130 determines the communication priority based on the type of vehicle information, but the present invention is not limited to this. The vehicle information includes, for example, status information indicating the driving state of the vehicle M, and the second determination unit 130 may determine the communication priority of the vehicle information based on the status information. For example, when the status information indicates that the automatic driving control is not being performed in the vehicle M, the second determination unit 130 may determine not to assign a high communication priority to the vehicle information used for controlling the vehicle M. In addition, when the status information indicates that the surrounding environment in which the vehicle M is traveling is a bad environment (for example, poor visibility or poor road surface conditions due to rainfall, snowfall, thick fog, etc.), the second determination unit 130 may determine not to assign a high communication priority to the vehicle information, which is image data captured by the camera, because the camera of the vehicle M cannot properly capture the surrounding environment of the vehicle M. Furthermore, when the status information indicates that the vehicle M is traveling on a highway, the second decision unit 130 may decide not to assign a high communication priority to the vehicle position information among the vehicle information, because changes in the surrounding environment in which the vehicle M is traveling (such as turning right or left or merging into lanes) are unlikely to occur. This allows the second decision unit 130 to prioritize communication of the vehicle information over other information according to the situation of the vehicle M.

[Re-request communication priority]
In the above description, the second communication control unit 140 transmits transmission data to the external device TA by communication based on the communication priority determined by the radio base station 10 when the second determination unit 130 requests the radio base station 10 to communicate based on the communication priority determined by the radio base station 10 and the request is not accepted by the radio base station 10. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the request for communication priority is not accepted by the radio base station 10, the second communication control unit 140 may cancel the transmission of the transmission data and, after a predetermined time, request the radio base station 10 to communicate based on the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 again.

If the request after a predetermined time is accepted, the second communication control unit 140 may transmit the transmission data to the external device TA by communication based on the communication priority determined by the wireless base station 10, and if the request is not accepted, the second communication control unit 140 may repeat the process of requesting the wireless base station 10 to communicate with the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 again after a predetermined time until the request is accepted. Also, if the request for communication priority is not accepted by the wireless base station 10 even after repeating the process of requesting the wireless base station 10 to communicate with the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 a predetermined number of times after a predetermined time, the second communication control unit 140 transmits the transmission data to the external device TA by communication based on the communication priority determined by the wireless base station 10. This makes it easier for the second communication control unit 140 to transmit the transmission data with the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130. Also, the second communication control unit 140 can prevent the transmission data from being sent forever by setting a limit on the number of retry requests.

In addition, for example, if the request for communication priority is not accepted by the wireless base station 10, the second communication control unit 140 may cancel the transmission of the transmission data, and after the communication quality of the mobile communication network has improved, request the wireless base station 10 to communicate again with the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130. In this case, the acquisition unit 120 acquires information indicating the communication quality of each mobile communication network measured by the communication quality measurement unit 30 of the wireless base station 10.

When the second communication control unit 140 determines that communication of transmission data with the requested communication priority will not affect other communications based on information indicating the communication quality of each mobile communication network measured by the communication quality measurement unit 30, the second communication control unit 140 requests communication with the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 from the wireless base station 10. The second communication control unit 140 determines that other communications will not be affected when, for example, the latency, throughput, traffic volume, bandwidth usage rate, number of error packets, number of lost packets, etc. are below a predetermined threshold value, or the communication speed, etc. are above a predetermined threshold value, etc.

If the request is accepted, the second communication control unit 140 transmits the transmission data to the external device TA by communication based on the communication priority determined by the wireless base station 10. This makes it easier for the second communication control unit 140 to transmit the transmission data according to the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130.

[Summary of the embodiment]
As described above, the communication control device of this embodiment (in this example, the communication device 100) includes an acquisition unit 120 that acquires vehicle information related to the vehicle M from one or more in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle M and transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle M, a second determination unit 130 that determines a communication priority of the vehicle information for each piece of vehicle information based on at least the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit 120, a start control unit (in this example, the second determination unit 130) that causes the second communication unit 110 to transmit information indicating the communication priority determined by the second determination unit 130 to the wireless base station 10 that is accessed for communication with the external device TA, and a priority communication control unit (in this example, the second communication control unit 140) that causes the second communication unit 110 to communicate vehicle information with the wireless base station 10 based on the communication priority received from the wireless base station 10, and is able to communicate information related to the vehicle on a priority basis while ensuring reliability.

The above describes the form for carrying out the present invention using an embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and various modifications and substitutions can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

1...communication system, 10, 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4...wireless base station, 20...first communication unit, 30...communication quality measurement unit, 32...first decision unit, 34...first communication control unit, 50, 260...storage unit, 52, 52a...reference information, 54...route information, 100...communication device, 110...second communication unit, 120...acquisition unit, 130...second decision unit, 140...second communication control unit, 200...vehicle-mounted device, 262...correspondence information, A, A-1, A-4...communication range, M...vehicle, TA...external device

Claims (11)

an acquisition unit that acquires vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle, the vehicle information being transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle;
a determination unit that determines a first communication priority of the vehicle information based on at least the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit;
a start control unit that causes a communication unit to transmit information indicating the first communication priority level determined by the determination unit to a wireless base station that is accessed for communication with the external device;
a priority communication control unit that causes the communication unit to communicate the vehicle information with the wireless base station based on a second communication priority received from the wireless base station;
Equipped with
the second communication priority is lower than the first communication priority,
the start control unit, when the wireless base station does not accept that the transmission data including the vehicle information is to be transmitted with the first communication priority, cancels the transmission of the transmission data including the vehicle information to the communication unit, and, after a predetermined time, causes the communication unit to transmit information indicating the first communication priority to the wireless base station.
Communications control device. an acquisition unit that acquires vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle, the vehicle information being transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle;
a determination unit that determines a first communication priority of the vehicle information based on at least the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit;
a start control unit that causes a communication unit to transmit information indicating the first communication priority level determined by the determination unit to a wireless base station that is accessed for communication with the external device;
a priority communication control unit that causes the communication unit to communicate the vehicle information with the wireless base station based on a second communication priority received from the wireless base station;
Equipped with
the second communication priority is lower than the first communication priority,
the acquiring unit acquires information indicating a communication quality of a mobile communication network measured by a communication quality measuring unit of the wireless base station;
the start control unit, when the wireless base station does not accept that the transmission data including the vehicle information is transmitted with the first communication priority, cancels the transmission of the transmission data including the vehicle information to the communication unit, and, after confirming that the communication quality has improved based on the information indicating the communication quality acquired by the acquisition unit, causes the communication unit to transmit the information indicating the first communication priority to the wireless base station.
Communications control device. The determination unit determines the first communication priority level based on status information indicating a traveling state of the vehicle.
The communication control device according to claim 1 or 2. the determination unit determines a communication band for communicating with the wireless base station as the first communication priority.
The communication control device according to claim 1 or 2. the wireless base station allocates a communication band for communication with the communication unit as the second communication priority;
The communication unit communicates with the external device regarding the vehicle information through the communication band allocated by the wireless base station.
The communication control device according to claim 4. the second communication priority is a priority of a Quality of Service (QoS) related to a channel of wireless communication relayed by the wireless base station;
The communication control device according to claim 1 or 2. A communication control device according to claim 1 or 2,
A communication system comprising the wireless base station. A computer having a communication unit,
Acquire vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle, the vehicle information being transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle;
determining a first communication priority of the vehicle information based on at least the acquired vehicle information;
causing the communication unit to transmit information indicating the determined first communication priority to a wireless base station to be accessed for communication with the external device;
causing the communication unit to communicate the vehicle information with the wireless base station according to the second communication priority level received from the wireless base station;
the second communication priority is lower than the first communication priority,
when the wireless base station does not accept that the transmission data including the vehicle information is to be transmitted with the first communication priority, canceling the transmission of the transmission data including the vehicle information to the communication unit, and after a predetermined time, causing the communication unit to transmit information indicating the first communication priority to the wireless base station.
Communications control method. A computer having a communication unit,
Acquiring vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more on-board devices mounted on the vehicle, the vehicle information being transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle;
determining a first communication priority of the vehicle information based on at least the acquired vehicle information;
causing the communication unit to transmit information indicating the determined first communication priority to a wireless base station that is accessed for communication with the external device;
causing the communication unit to communicate the vehicle information with the wireless base station according to a second communication priority level received from the wireless base station;
the second communication priority is lower than the first communication priority,
canceling the transmission of the transmission data including the vehicle information by the communication unit when the wireless base station does not accept that the transmission data including the vehicle information is transmitted with the first communication priority, and after a predetermined time, causing the communication unit to transmit information indicating the first communication priority to the wireless base station;
A program for executing. A computer having a communication unit,
Acquire vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle, the vehicle information being transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle;
determining a first communication priority of the vehicle information based on at least the acquired vehicle information;
causing the communication unit to transmit information indicating the determined first communication priority to a wireless base station to be accessed for communication with the external device;
causing the communication unit to communicate the vehicle information with the wireless base station according to the second communication priority level received from the wireless base station;
the second communication priority is lower than the first communication priority,
acquiring information indicating a communication quality of a mobile communication network measured by a communication quality measurement unit of the wireless base station;
canceling the transmission of the transmission data including the vehicle information to the communication unit when the wireless base station does not accept that the transmission data including the vehicle information is transmitted with the first communication priority, and after confirming that the communication quality has improved based on the acquired information indicating the communication quality , causing the communication unit to transmit the information indicating the first communication priority to the wireless base station.
Communications control method. A computer having a communication unit,
Acquiring vehicle information related to the vehicle from one or more on-board devices mounted on the vehicle, the vehicle information being transmitted to an external device outside the vehicle;
determining a first communication priority of the vehicle information based on at least the acquired vehicle information;
causing the communication unit to transmit information indicating the determined first communication priority to a wireless base station that is accessed for communication with the external device;
causing the communication unit to communicate the vehicle information with the wireless base station according to a second communication priority level received from the wireless base station;
the second communication priority is lower than the first communication priority,
acquiring information indicating a communication quality of a mobile communication network measured by a communication quality measurement unit of the wireless base station;
canceling the transmission of the transmission data including the vehicle information to the communication unit when the wireless base station does not accept that the transmission data including the vehicle information is transmitted with the first communication priority, and after confirming that communication quality has improved based on information indicating the acquired communication quality , causing the communication unit to transmit information indicating the first communication priority to the wireless base station;
A program for executing.

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